KnightCrawler, You are looking for a high-end SUV. Leasing such a vehicle has more advantages... but I'm not that good at this but Mercedez should not cost $45K... my colleague got one for ~$33K. Can you try to look around or bargain? Among all foreign SUVs, the cheapest are the Mercedez, just overheard this so the info is not reliable.. So lease it for a year or so with options to buy, if allowed. Good luck!